In the context of this disclosure, unless otherwise qualified, the term “image” refers to two-dimensional arrangements of objects from any desired source and of any desired content, such as photographic or synthetic images, and also to two-dimensional areas, which represent distributions of measured values or other variables. Also, herein, two-dimensional images contain objects defined by polygons (outline edges) and by patterns, color and shading of the areas. The objects may partially overlap such that the objects are partly visible to a viewer.
Computer-based methods for converting a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional image are known. Such a method is used, for example, in image processing systems.
One such method of generating a three-dimensional image uses rotation of the two-dimensional image around a rotation axis. This method works for single objects, as well as for multiple objects that overlap, as long as the rotation angle about the rotation axis is 360°. If the rotation angle does not equal 360°, then there is a loss of information for two-dimensional overlapping objects.